FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Out in the Volunteer State, senior golfer Issy Hopkins spearheaded a strong showing at Lipscomb's The Robbie, leading Jacksonville to a fourth-place team finish in the program's second tournament of the year.

The Dolphins secured fourth in the field of seven, shooting a combined team total of +70 across three rounds at Temple Hills Country Club. Hopkins was one of the standouts for the 'Phins, earning a T8 final finish with a +14 total. It was the highest finish of Hopkins' career as a Dolphin taking over for her previous best finish of T9 at FAU's Jupiter Women's Invite back in 2023.

Hopkins started her tournament with three birdies in the opening round. During round two, she shot up the leaderboard after an even finish, carding four birdies. The Welsh player scored birdies on the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th holes consecutively to earn a back-nine score of 35. She led the Dolphins in total birdies on the day.
On the final round of play, Hopkins again birdied 13 for a +7 final round.

While Hopkins finished in the top-10, two more Dolphins took home top-20 placements in transfers Cambree Hodge and Emma Wells.

The dueling Daytona State transfers aided in Jacksonville's best team score of the year, as Wells finished T14 and Hodge finished T18. Both placements were season highs for the pair of juniors. Wells opened up with two birdies in the opening round with Hodge recording one on 12. Wells had the best opening round of any Dolphin, carding a +3 open to tournament play.

The second round saw Hodge shoot a +8 round score. Wells went without a birdie and was +11 for the day. Neither Dolphin had trouble finding birdies during the final 18 holes however. Hodge carded three such holes with Wells carding three of her own. Both 'Phins earned a stroke by birdieing the par-five second hole.

Helping round out the team total, freshman Abbie Justiz shot a +28-tournament score, good for a T29 placement. Justiz has appeared in both tournaments this year for Jacksonville and earned her highest individual finish in Franklin. 

Justiz had her best showing during round two where she carded two birdies and shot a +8 overall score. The frosh had four birdies across the three rounds.

Sophomore returner Hannah Lowery tied with Justiz at T29, finishing out Jacksonville's team entrants. Lowery had a monster round two as well, finishing second on the team during the round with a +3 score. She birdied holes two and four to shoot a -1 front-nine. Lowery's finish was the third best of her career.

Individually, Kit Schaefer turned in a +38 total. Schaefer's best round was the opener where she secured two birdies.

As a team, Jacksonville finished as the second-highest ASUN team in the field ahead of Bellarmine and North Alabama but behind host Lipscomb. The Dolphins were four strokes behind Lamar in third place.

Jacksonville is next back in action from Oct. 26-27 for the Pat Bradley Invitational hosted by FIU at Miami Lakes Golf Course.

COACH'S COMMENTS
On the tournament and preparation changes due to Hurricane Isaias: "There were so many positives this week," first-year head coach Jessica Welch said. "This was a really tough course and we battled from the beginning to the end. The girls kept such a great attitude given all the circumstances. Practice going into the event got derailed with the weather, and they had a roll-with-the-punches kind of attitude. They made me proud. We're going to take both the victories and the lessons from this week with us into the Pat Bradley at the end of the month.

On Hopkins: "It was great to see Issy get her first top 10 of the season. She's definitely a leader on this team and she pushes us all to be better every day."